


The Right Life

by JurisfictionAgent99



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Danny needs to find Grace and Steve, M/M, Magic, Not an AU except for the
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-21
Updated: 2014-05-21
Packaged: 2018-01-25 01:49:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,748
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1625144
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JurisfictionAgent99/pseuds/JurisfictionAgent99
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Danny doesn't know how much longer he can stand life with Rachel. They're miserable, they fight constantly and Danny's happiest when he can get out of the house in the morning before Rachel wakes up. He loves his job with the Newark PD but at home he's miserable. But what can he do, that's his life...right?</p><p>Or</p><p>Danny wakes up in a world where he still lives in Jersey, he doesn't have a daughter, and Five-0 doesn't exist. So why does he keep hallucinating some guy named Steve and a life in Hawaii?</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Right Life

Danny's hand slammed down on the alarm, smacking it repeatedly until its awful blaring stopped. He rolled onto his back and scrubbed his hands over his face, not quite ready to face the day. The feeling of utter freedom he had felt while dreaming was slowly seeping out of him as he listened to the breathing of the woman beside him. It felt as though, with every exhale, every reassurance of her presence, another weight fell upon him, pinning him to a life he could no longer stand.

Finally, he thumped his feet on the floor and dragged himself to the shower. Under the hot water he relived his dream. The sun gently warmed his skin with its morning light as he stood in the sand watching the water. Waves lapped a sun-kissed shore and he knew their sound meant freedom as assuredly as he knew they were the waves of somewhere far from here, from a different life.

He let himself revel in that feeling. Let the utter joy he had felt at the sound of those waves course through him before the reality of his shower came crashing down around him. He didn't have a private beach, he couldn't walk to the water holding his morning coffee and wait for... _someone_ to return to him.

Chalking it up to wishful thinking he turned off the water. He was simply longing for someone who understood him, for anyone that wasn't Rachel.

Rachel was still sleeping when he returned to the bedroom and he did his best to get dressed without waking her. Any morning he could get out of the house without speaking to her was a good morning.

He pulled on his pants, buttoned his shirt, and straightened his tie. As he looked at himself in the mirror he wondered how much longer things could continue like this. He and Rachel were miserable, any time they spent together was spent shouting at one another, nothing he did ever made her happy and he didn't even feel like trying anymore.

Looking into a divorce lawyer was the next logical step but Danny wasn't quite ready. As unhappy as they were he wasn't ready to admit that everything was over, that his marriage had failed. It wasn't supposed to be this way. Perhaps, if they just went a little further, they would turn a corner. He knew that wasn't true but wasn't ready to accept the truth just yet.

Sighing, he grabbed his badge and walked to the kitchen for coffee and a quick breakfast. He opened the cabinet and grabbed his favorite cereal. _Whole grain?_ That wasn't right. He put it back on the shelf and looked for the proper box, which wasn't there.

He shot a dirty look back at the bedroom and the woman who had thrown out his favorite cereal without so much as a warning. It took more willpower that he would have liked to not do the same to her health monstrosity. Throwing out his sugary goodness had been below the belt.

Looking through the breadbox he settled for some toast instead. Also whole grain. Yep, she definitely hated him.

Danny was annoyed as he started the car and pulled out of the drive. Buying more ceareal and hiding it in the car seemed too childish a thing to do but he was sorely tempted. He was not eating whole grain toast again and he knew Rachel would keep throwing out whatever he bought next. Even if he pretended it didn't bother him she would see right through it. He was a grown man, a detective even, he should be able to eat what he pleased. Apparently Rachel didn't share that philosophy.

Driving down an empty road he tried to find the radio station he liked. Good music would help clear his mind but the one he thought he listened to wasn't anywhere to be found. He flicked through stations trying to find it.

"-male, 6'2", dark haired, has been missing since-" a radio announcer's voice read out.

Danny changed the station. He wasn't even sure what he was looking for but finally settled on one that didn't seem remotely familiar.

* * *

It was business as usual at the precinct and Danny was grateful. Rachel made getting home every night a fun game of 'Is she gonna scream or throw something at my head?'. Work didn't have that problem. As Danny walked to his desk he overheard a couple cops talking about their latest case.

"-just disappeared. They can't find the guy anywhere," one of the officers said.

Danny hated those cases, the ones where people went missing. The ones where the families were left, waiting and scared, with little to no information about when they would see their loved one again. He never knew what to say to them, how to work hard enough, fast enough, to bring the person home. He couldn't imagine that happening to him.

Danny didn't have a partner. He worked alone, got to spend the day stuck in his own head with no one to talk to unless one counted the perps he brought in and booked without needing to be told. He thought about asking for a new one after Meka, but he couldn't handle it just yet, wasn't ready for someone new.

His desk was cluttered with files which he straightened. He grabbed the case files he needed and went out to his car. Time to start work for the day.

* * *

Chin was bored. Working security for the park wasn't nearly as interesting as being a cop had been but it paid the bills. Getting kicked out of HPD hadn't left him with many options so here he was, telling kids to keep two feet on the ground and giving people directions. Oh, the stimulation. Banging his head against the nearest tree seemed like it would be frowned upon so he refrained, barely.

He heard some unusual rustling behind him and turned. He dropped into a crouch, his instincts preparing him for the worst, but as soon as he saw what was causing the sounds he straightened up.

"Climb down from there," he ordered. As he watched, a couple of kids scampered away, presumably back to the parents who hadn't yet noticed they'd wandered off. Was this really what he'd been doing yesterday, and the day before that, and the day before that? It didn't seem possible, this job was so tedious he wasn't sure how he came back day after day.

He shook his head to clear his mind and kept walking. It didn't matter. This was his life. He wondered how much longer he would be able to stand it.

* * *

Ch 2

Danny walked into work the next morning in a good mood. He'd been able to escape his house without talking to his wife. Two days in a row was a bit unusual. Normally she woke a few minutes before he managed to get out. Whatever the reason for it, he was happy for the respite.

"Hey, man."

Danny looked up from his desk. Mark Hendrick was standing over him holding a bad of what Danny hoped were doughnuts. Mark was a good guy. Most of that opinion was based on the fact he regularly brought Danny delicious pastries. Danny felt that was a solid foundation for a friendship.

"Hey," Danny replied, pushing his case file away from himself. "What's in the bag?"

"Fresh doughnuts from Jenny's Bakery."

Danny smiled. That place was amazing. Every couple of weeks he'd stop off there before work but getting the goods for free was always better.

"Thanks, man, lay 'em on me." Danny gestured to the clear space on his desk. He pulled out a napkin for Mark to set the deep fried rings of deliciousness on.

"How the Freidland case going?" Mark asked as he put a couple of doughnuts in front of Danny who dug in immediately.

"Haven't made much progress the last couple of days. It seems like every lead I follow just brings me to a dead end. I mean, would it be so much to ask for the criminals to be a little more logical about where they're going to stash the goods? I checked all the places I, a sound-minded, intelligent individual would stash a few hundred extra grand but no. Not one place turned up so much as a dime. I tell you, they're all idiots and it's aggrevating."

"Well why don't we start giving out IQ tests and remedial lessons for any criminals found wanting. Would that work for you?"

"Yes," Danny said, waving his half-eaten doughnut through the air. "That would suit me just fine."

Mark laughed, "Sure, Danny. I'll get right on that."

Danny waved him off and Mark walked to his own desk. Danny pulled the file back toward himself. His next stop was down by the shore at a shaved ice stand. The owner of which was a friend to one of the suspects. Hopefully, talking with this guy, he would finally start getting somewhere. He didn't even need to get far, any progress would be good enough for him. He shut the file and carried it out to the car.

* * *

Danny shielded his eyes against the sun and tried to pick out the shaved ice stand he was looking for. He spotted it down by the middle of the pier, squashed between the bumper cars and the corn-dog stand. He strolled casually toward it, checking out who was coming and going around it. So far everything looked legit. With any luck, that wouldn't be the case once he got a good look at it. He could use it as leverage to get the friend to rat on Freidland.

"Can I help you, bro?" the guy manning the stand asked when Danny walked up.

"Yeah, I'm looking for Brad. He here?"

"Depends. Who's asking?" the guy said, crossing his arms. If he wanted to intimidate Danny he had a long way to go, 5'3" and scrawny wasn't as threatening as he seemed to hope.

"I'm asking. That good enough for you, tough guy? Now, he here or not?" Danny stared the guy down. He had all day for this. This idiot wasn't going to get the better of him, not when he might actually have valuable information to give.

They stared each other down until the guy finally looked away.

"Fine, I'm Brad. What do you want?"

The memory hit him like a freight train. One moment he was standing on a pier in Jersey, the next he was on the beach in front of a completely different shaved-ice stall.

  _"Oh, there's one more thing I need you fine, white, gentlemen to do."_

  _And that's how Danny found himself leaning against the side of his car next to Steve, wearing an XL t-shirt, and holding a snow cone. This was annoying. He'd just gotten to the island, he was working with a new, and insane, partner, and now he was a walking billboard. Fantastic.  
_

  _He understood, really, needing to play nice with the locals but did it have to involve standing around with a giant face on his chest? At least Steve had listened to the big guy and hadn't jumped over the counter and tried to beat the information out of him. Thank goodness for small favors._

Someone bumped into Danny and he was startled back to the present. Momentarily confused by his surroundings he looked down and patted his chest, no t-shirt just the button up he'd put on that morning. He wasn't on an island, his car wasn't anywhere near him, everything was how it was supposed to be. What the hell had just happened? Who on earth was Steve and why did Danny think they were working together?

Focus, Williams, he told himself. He needed to get his head back into the game. Whatever was going on in his mind could wait until this interrogation was over. Turning back to Brad, Danny made himself question him. There was no way he was letting his work suffer just because he was suddenly delusional. 

Brad ended up being an easy target, too afraid of going to jail to cover for a friend who wouldn't do the same for him. He gave Danny two of Freidland's common hideouts and Danny walked back to the car to go check them out.

Once in the car he gripped the steering wheel hard, as though that could keep him firmly rooted in the present. The vision he had just experienced had seemed so real, like he had actually been on that other beach. Had he been drugged? He doubted it. Brad hadn't been anywhere near him before the incident and the only thing he'd eaten had been those doughnuts from Mark at the precinct. Mark wouldn't have done anything to him; the guy was totally clean. 

So, not drugs. Stress? Was the combined pressure of work and Rachel finally getting to him? Probably. Tomorrow he would stop by the gym and work out some of his aggression on a punching bag. If he got rid of some of the stress he'd been carrying around that should take care of the issue. 

Good. That settled, he pulled out of the parking lot to go find his criminals.

* * *

Chin was walking his usual route through the park when he hear shouting from up ahead. He ran toward the sound. When he found the source of the raised voices it turned out to be a couple of girls who'd gotten into a fight. He slowed down as he approached them, no need to aggregate the situation by barreling in and scaring them.

"Ladies," he called. 

  _"-you can stop now."_

  _He waved his phone so Steve and Danny could see it. Was Steve hanging that guy off the roof? Of course he was. If there was a right and proper way to do something it could be guaranteed Steve would do exactly the opposite._

  _"I got a fingerprint match off an Interpol database." He sighed and waited for Steve and Danny to sort their shit out and for Steve to haul their guy back up. At least Steve was strong enough to keep from dropping their suspect._

  _"Ergo?" Steve asked Danny disbelievingly._

  _Danny pointed his finger in Steve's face as Chin watched, amused._

  _"You and I are going to have a long talk later, you understand?" Danny was right in Steve's face as he shouted at him._

  _Chin could tell Danny was working himself into a good rant. He hid his smirk so as not to egg him on further._

"Yes, sir?" one of the girls asked, sounding confused. 

Who was she? Why was she on the roof with them? It wasn't safe up here, he would need to get her away from here. He walked toward her to guide her to the door...which wasn't there, because they weren't on a roof; they were in the park, where he worked, as a security guard.

"Um, just keep it down," he told them. "We don't allow fighting in the park."

"Yes, sir," both girls chorused. 

"Is there anything else I can do for you?" Chin asked, trying to seem more confident than he felt at the moment. He had no idea what had just happened to him but he didn't want them to see how shaken up he was. 

"No, we're fine," one of the girls said before they both ran off. 

He stood where he was for a moment. No one else was around so he felt safe taking a minute to try and get his head back together. Never before had he hallucinated and he didn't like it. The problem was, other than seeing things of course, he had no idea what had caused it. He wasn't overworked, he'd been sleeping adequately, nothing traumatic had happened recently. There was nothing to have triggered sudden hallucinations.

Well, he'd been kicked off the force in shame but that was months ago. If he was going to have any negative side effects they would surely have manifested before now. Shaking his head he decided not to think about it anymore. Even if this job wasn't the same as being on HPD he still needed to keep his mind focused on work. Worrying could come later. 

* * *

Danny was exhausted when he got home that night, at one in the freaking morning. Brad's tip had proven to be a good one and he'd surprised Freidland and his partner when he'd turned up at their hideout. He'd considered waiting for back up but, deciding there wasn't time, he'd gone in alone and busted them. They'd fired a couple of shots but nobody had been hit so he counted it as a job well done. Two more scumbags were in jail and he was without bullet wounds. Perfect.  

Looking between the couch and the bedroom Danny opted for the couch. He didn't want to risk waking Rachel up and having another argument about the hours he kept, it was one of her favorites. He just wanted to lay down and pass out. Which is exactly what he did.

  _He was riding in the passenger seat of his car. Steve was driving as usual, control freak. This was Danny's car, ergo Danny should be the one driving it. Yeah, Steve, ergo. How do you like that?_

  __

  _He knew that Steve couldn't read his mind but he smiled at the thought anyway. What was he saying again? Oh, right._

  _"Torturing and killing is not part of the job description." How hard was it for Steve to understand that? Police procedure._ Police Procedure. _Steve liked tattoos so much Danny should make him get the words tattooed on his arm. That way whenever he was hanging someone off a building he would look down, see the words, and rethink his actions. Purely wishful thinking on Danny's part, but a man could dream couldn't he?_

  _"I wasn't going to kill him," Steve argued._

  _"Why are you talking?" Danny couldn't believe it. Steve was actually trying to defend his insane interrogation techniques? Unbelievable._

  _"I'm just trying to explain-"_

  _"Why are your lips moving?" Danny demanded. Steve put a hand up and signaled that Danny had the floor. Damn right he had the floor._

Danny awoke the next morning disoriented. He should have pulled out the couch, his back was aching. As he looked groggily around the room, much bigger than he remembered, he got his bearings. This was his house, in Jersey, where he lived with his wife, and they didn't own a pullout couch. As far as he could remember the last time he'd slept on one had been in college. 

Also, who was Steve and why did Danny's subconscious keep dredging him up? Now it had been a hallucination and a dream, he must have seen the man somewhere. Danny sat up and opened his laptop. He brought up the police database and typed in the name Steve with as many details about the guy as he could remember.

He was at least 6' tall, the Neanderthal, had tattoos on both arms, was brunette, Caucasian, had brown eyes, and how closely had Danny been looking to notice that? Danny typed it all in but the database came up empty. There wasn't anyone who matched the description. So the guy wasn't a criminal or a cop, just possibly a figment of Danny's overworked psyche, how comforting.

Then had Danny seem him before? He racked his brains but he couldn't find him anywhere in his memories. He ran his hands over his hair, still messy from sleep, and tried to figure out why he kept seeing the same guy. Maybe it didn't mean anything. All he needed was to relax and let loose a little and the man would be forgotten. 

At least the man his psyche had dreamed up for him was a good one, tall and gorgeous. If Danny had to dream repeatedly about someone this was a pretty nice someone to dream about. He studiously ignored the fact that having a hallucination and dreaming were two completely different things. If he just pretended having an unexplained vision in the middle of the day was no big deal then maybe it wouldn't be.

Danny got up to get ready for work. Forgetting the mystery man and focusing on the here and now, that's what he would do. It wouldn't do to let it get out that a member of the NPD was hallucinating. If they made him take a sabbatical and he had to stay at home with Rachel all day he would really need help.

* * *

  
  
  
  
"Uncle Steve?"

"Yes, Gracie."

"Where's Danno?"

"I don't know, sweetie, but we're gonna see him again real soon."

"You promise?"

"Yeah, baby girl, I do."  
  
  
  


* * *

Danny stopped to grab a cup of coffee at the local cafe before work. As he waited in line, the barista was calling out names. 

"Grace," the barista shouted.

_“Come on, Danno. Come on. We’re going surfing,” Grace said, full of light and life and tugging his hand, pulling him toward the ocean. She was laughing as she ran toward the water. And so was he. Grace loved the water and he loved seeing her happy._

  _The sea breeze whipped her hair about her face. He could feel the wind on his skin and the sand between his toes. Having a house right on the beach was pretty incredible. It had only been three weeks but moving in with Steve seemed like one of the best decisions he'd made. And not just because his daughter loved the easy water access. Sometimes she even got up and went with Steve for his morning swim. They were goofs the pair of them, but they were his goofs and he wouldn't trade them for the world._

  _"Hurry up, Danno. Steve's waiting for us."_

  _Right, he'd agreed to let Steve teach Grace to surf. It still wasn't something he was totally on board with but if someone was going to teach his little monkey it was going to be Steve. And with Kono helping her out on the side she couldn't be in safer hands._

  _"Alright, go on," he told her letting go of her hand and watching her fly toward the water with a swiftness Hermes would have envied. Steve caught her easily and spun her through the air, making her laugh harder. Danny waved to both of them, although neither was paying him the slightest bit of attention, then went back to the lanai to sit and watch. Steve wasn't letting her in the water yet so Danny felt he could watch from a distance rather than at the water's edge._

Danny slammed back to reality. He looked around, trying to get his bearings. He was in a café, alone, not on a beach, not with his daughter. He was swept with a wave of longing so strong it nearly brought him to his knees. Where was Grace? Why wasn't his precious little girl here with him right this minute? How could he not know where she was?  

He looked around and tried to remember that he didn't have a daughter; he didn't know a Steve. These visions weren't real he told himself, they weren't. Breathing in deeply, he tried to steady himself. A moment ago it had felt real and now it felt like he was trying to shake off the vestiges of a particularly vivid dream. But no matter how he tried he couldn't completely shake the little girl from his mind, couldn't completely shake the love he had felt for her even though he had to. He couldn't go around worked up over imaginary offspring.

"What can I get for you?" the cashier asked brightly. 

"Um?" right, he was supposed to order. The vision had left him disoriented but after a moment he remembered what he wanted and ordered. He paid, gave his name, and sat down to wait for his drink. 

At the table he kept fidgeting. He half expected to be hit with another episode and had no desire for that to happen. The first time had been strange, the dream had been a bit odd simply for featuring the same unknown man, but now whatever was going on was starting to concern him. Normal, healthy people didn't walk around taking mental day trips to alternate realities and he would like to stop his thank you very much. 

What if it happened in the middle of a dangerous investigation? He couldn't afford to check out while chasing down criminals. Not only would he risk hurting himself he would put the people around him in danger. Civilians didn't deserve to be hurt because the person protecting them wasn't taking care of himself. 

He wasn't sure if he felt totally comfortable driving himself home from here but so far none of the "little trips" had happened while he was behind the wheel. Pulling out his phone he called into work to tell them he was taking the day off. This was starting to be too much. He needed a doctor and sooner rather than later.

He took his coffee when called and drove to the doctor to figure out what was wrong with him.

* * *

"Mr. Williams," the doctor said looking over the chart in his hands, "All your tests have come back normal. Physically, there's nothing wrong with you. In light of that I suggest you visit Dr. Wilbur. He's a wonderful psychologist who's worked with a lot of cops. He'll be able to help you." 

The doctor smiled kindly and handed Danny a paper with the doctor's name and number on it. 

"Why is this happening, doc?" Danny asked as he took the paper. 

"It could be from stress, trauma, or any number or things. Dr. Wilbur will be able to work with you to figure out the cause and help you get rid of them."

"How long do you think it will take?"

"I really couldn't say. That's more his field of expertise than mine."

"What if I don't go to him, what will happen?"

"Most likely the hallucinations will keep occurring. Since they've just begun the sooner you seek help, the easier they will be to deal with."

"Of course, thanks, doc," Danny said. He left and walked out to his car.

So at least it wasn't anything physical. Although that didn't leave him with many answers. This was all in his head but what did that mean? If he didn't seek help was it really going to get worse or would it disappear as suddenly as it had started? He decided to keep the doctor's name in his wallet in case things got out of control. For now he was going to go work his frustrations off at the gym instead. He wanted to try his own methods before he talked to some stranger about his problems.

One week, six gym visits, and three hallucinations later Danny knew something was seriously wrong.

* * *

Danny was sitting in his living room with his head in his hands. Each vision felt more real than the one before it and he didn't know what to think. He tried to rack his brain for a cause but he couldn't pinpoint one. Even though he was worried, he didn't want to risk calling Dr. Wilbur and being deemed unfit for duty. His job was his first love and he couldn't stand the idea of being parted from it. He needed to give figuring this out on his own a shot. It wasn't his best decision he knew, but he wasn't up for taking the chance of losing his job without at least attempting to solve his problem himself.

He had, however, asked for time off. He'd been working pretty much nonstop and had plenty of vacation time saved up. Two weeks off, during which he would either get rid of these things on his own or he would call the doctor for help. That was a fair bargin right? He'd try to deal with this himself, but if it turned out he couldn't he would go to the professional. Part of his love for his job was protecting people. He wouldn't put them at risk just to make sure he stayed at work.

"Are you going to sit around all day or were you planning to get some actual work done around here?" Rachel asked as she stormed into the room. Danny couldn't remember the last time she entered a room normally, at least not one he was residing in.

Danny gritted his teeth, "What did you have in mind?" he asked, annoyed at being interrupted.

" _What did I have in mind?_ Haven't you been paying any attention at all around here? Oh, that's right, you haven't. You just run out the door every morning to go to your precious job."

"Of course I do, my job is important."

"And I'm not?" Rachel looked like she wanted to find a frying pan and brain him with it. 

"That isn't what I meant," he said even though it was.

"Then stop laying around doing nothing. Get up and fix the light in the bathroom. It's been out for three weeks."

"Then why didn't you fix it yourself?" Danny was steamed. He been off from work for one morning and she was already getting on his case. 

"I shouldn't have to. You're supposed to change it." Rachel's voice was getting louder.

"And clearly I haven't. So if you care so much about it then you fix it."

"You are insufferable," Rachel said as she marched out of the room.

Danny watched her go, glad she was leaving him alone. That was about as well as they got along these days and had no desire to spend two weeks shouting over nothing. He heard the front door slam. Now he would have the house to himself for a few hours. It occurred to him that he didn't really have a game plan for his time off. Sitting around all day would get old quickly and wouldn't bring him any closer to getting rid of his problem. 

He wished he had a friend to talk to about this. Oddly enough he wanted to call Steve to talk all this over but, considering that Steve wasn't real and his non-existence was part of the problem, it seemed a most bizarre desire.

"Okay," he said aloud. "I'm gonna workout, watch the game, and order a pizza. That's what I'm gonna do." There, that wasn't so hard. He was talking to himself but at least he wasn't talking to imaginary Steve.

Now that he'd decided on a plan he felt a bit better. The fact that his previous workouts had done nothing to alleviate his problem was something he was choosing to ignore. 

He went to the bedroom and changed into jogging sweats. Steve would rather go for a swim but sometimes Danny could persuade him to run. 

_What?_ Where had that thought come from? Danny shook his head and went back to tying his shoes. Steve wasn't real therefore he had no exercise preferences. He had to remember that. With any luck he would leave thoughts of Steve out on the pavement. With that goal in mind Danny set off out the door and down the street.

* * *

Freshly showered and feeling relaxed Danny sat down on the couch and settled in to watch the game. His pizza should be here in thirty minutes and then his night would be perfect.

"Steve, grab me a beer," Danny called to an empty kitchen. It took him a minute to realize his mistake. He had been convinced that Steve was in the kitchen, rummaging in the fridge for a beer. For a moment it had seemed the most undeniable truth that Steve was here with him. Danny could remember sitting on their couch, in their house, watching the game together and he'd been sure that's what he was doing now.

But it wasn't. He was sitting home alone watching the game, just liked he'd always done. The home he shared with Rachel not Steve.  He tried to remember the last time he'd done this to prove to himself that this was his norm but his last memory was from years ago. That couldn't be right. But all the games that came quickly to mind featured Steve and a beach house.

This was going beyond hallucinations. These were memories that were now filtering into Danny's brain. He closed his eyes and tried to focus on them. A beach, a daughter, Steve's face when he'd asked Danny to move in, Danny's jubilation at being asked. He _remembered_ it. It was as though someone had upended a box of photographs into his mind, one after another the memories fell into place.

The more Danny throught about it the more obvious it became that he couldn't call to mind any memories of Jersey from before a couple of weeks ago. Even the last case he'd cracked, he knew he had caught Freidland but had absolutely no memory of being assigned the case, or starting his investigation. All he remember was solving it. Everything before that might as well have been wiped from his memory.

Danny fell back against the couch, hands clasped atop his head. This wasn't stress. He wasn't sick. Something far bigger was going on, and now he had two weeks to figure out what.

* * *

Every night brought more dreams of his life in Hawaii. It got to the point where Danny slept on the couch every night rather than share a bed with Rachel. The more solid his memories became, the more sharing that space with her felt like cheating on Steve. Each morning he woke longing to hold Steve in his arms and each morning he was disappointed when his searching hands closed on nothing but empty space. 

There had to be a way back to Steve and Grace, a way back to the life he was supposed to have. He and Rachel were barely speaking by this point and it left him plenty of time to figure out what to do. 

His memories of his other life weren't complete. He wasn't sure why he had moved there or when but he could tell he'd been there a few years. Maybe if he went back to Hawaii he might find out what was going on. He would investigate this the way he would any of his cases and if this were one of those the first thing he would do would be to go back to the last place the missing person had been seen and search for clues. So that's what he would do here. First he would need to figure out where exactly in Hawaii he needed to go. Wandering around aimlessly wouldn't do much good. Time to start searching for his starting location.

* * *

"Kono, we have to do something," Chin said emphatically as he stared at his cousin. They were sitting in his living room together, trying to figure out what the hell was going on. Both of them had been experiencing increasingly vivid hallucinations about the same people over the last couple of weeks and neither knew why, or who any of the people were. 

One of the scenes they had experienced had been the same one. Everything had been exactly the same, from the dialogue and clothing to the weather and people present. That fact more than anything else, and anything else being not wanting people to think they'd lost their minds, kept them from seeking professional help. If they were sick they wouldn't be having identical visions. Chin also wasn't too interested in this getting back to HPD and getting questioned because they were worried an ex-cop was losing it and going to come after them.

"Clearly," Kono agreed. "Who is Steve? He seems like our boss in these little fantasies but I've never heard of the guy before." And he was the kind of person one would remember. Loud, brash, and crazy; just her kinda leader. She stood up and paced in front of the couch, rubbing her forehead as though a genie would come out and explain everything.

"I have no idea. Given his surname I'd think he was related to John McGarrett but the man never had a son, just one daughter. I googled Steve McGarrett but none of the guys who came up were him. As far as I can tell, he doesn't exist."

"And we can't look up every Grace and Danny in the world and hope to stumble across the right ones," Kono said, letting out a frustrated sigh. They weren't getting anywhere. All they had to go one were first names and physical descriptions. Even if those other people were real they wouldn't be able to find them among the millions of Steve's, Grace's, and Danny's of the world. It would have been easier if their parents had named them something outlandish but they each had depressingly common names.

Chin made a face and looked up at Kono, not sure how she was going to take the news. 

"About Danny," Chin said carefully, "It's actually Danny Williams. I got a last name in my dream last night. I looked him up Kono. He's real."

"What?" Kono burst out. "This guys exists? So Grace, that must be his daughter right?" She was excited. This meant they weren't crazy. Well they were still having unexplained hallucinations, but at least one of the people they'd seen was real. Actually real. Thank goodness.

"No, as it turns out. Danny's married to a Rachel Williams but no record of a Grace Williams exists."

"We need to contact this guy, maybe he's having the same problem we are. Where's he live?"

"He's living in Jersey. I've got his number."

Kono looked at him suspiciously. "How did you come by that number, exactly?"

Chin didn't even bother trying to look chagrined. "I am good with computers," he reminded her.

"So you hacked into the HPD system and looked him up. Well done, cuz."

"So are we gonna call this guy or what?" Chin asked as he waved the slip of paper he'd written the number on in front of her.  

She snatched it away and ran to the phone.

* * *

The beach house he had seen a few times was a good a place to start as any since he didn't know anyone's last name. He'd tried looking them all up anyway but didn't want to sift through thousands of Kono's and Chin's hoping to find people who might not actually exist. 

Looking back at the laptop he had balanced on his thighs, he began searching for pictures of beaches online, trying to see if he could find the one he had seen. For two hours he looked, beach after beach, house after house, until finally he found the one he was looking for. He almost didn't believe it. Finding one beach house amoung the thousands out there seemed ridiculous, but there it was. It was exactly as he remembered it and he quickly clicked the picture to see if he could get a location.

The link brought up a news article about a homicide that had taken place at the house a few years prior. It wasn't a pretty story but it was a lot more than he had to go on a moment ago. No one in his visions had been kind enough to spell out any street addresses for him. Now that he knew what to look for he searched the police database for any reference to the homicide. If he could find the right file he would be able to get a lock on the exact address.

It took another half-hour of searching but he found it. He leaned back against the headboard and rested his threaded hands on his head. This place was real. It existed in the world exactly the way it existed in his mind. If the house was still here the people might be too.

Taking a deep breath he went back to the police database and did a search for cops in Honolulu. Chin came back as a match. 

Well shit, he thought. It was all real. Everything he had seem, dreamt, and remembered was real. He had a daughter. A little girl he loved more than everything in the world and right now she wasn't with him and that was not going to stand. He had to get her back. 

He didn't know why he didn't know her, but with each passing day he remembered more and more about her. He didn't know who had separated them or how it was possible for him to be living in this reality without her. But now, Danny was a father on a mission and none of that mattered.

Even though a small part of him thought he might be wrong, that all this was only in his head no matter how real it seemed, the rest of him was screaming at him to get on the case. He'd wasted so much time, but now he had the chance to make up for that. He had a location, a name, and thanks to the database, a phone number. Chin was listed as having been kicked out of the HPD but they hadn't said where he'd gone afterward. Danny just hoped he hadn't changed his number.

Quickly, Danny closed his laptop and got out of bed. He pulled a duffle bag out of the back of the closet and threw a few clothes in. 

He was ready to go in ten minutes. The laptop he'd tossed into the bag with the rest of his stuff. He left a note on the pillow telling Rachel he was going to Honolulu. She deserved better than coming home to no husband and no clue what had happened. He left out the reason he was leaving, let her think he'd just needed a vacation. 

Danny checked his pocket to make sure he still had Chin's number. He would call him once he landed in Hawaii. Just because he was dreaming about some guy who really existed didn't mean that guy knew a damn thing about him. He didn't want to get in a fight on the phone with a country between them. If he was going to have to prove his sanity to this stranger, possibly collegue, he wanted to at least be in the same state. Although preferably with some good cover to jump behind if Chin reacted poorly; going by what he remembered that guy was one good shot.

The closer he drove to the airport the more this felt like the right thing to do. His daughter was counting on him. Possibly. Definitely. He had no idea how the world he was remembering and the one he was currently living in could both exist, or if only one did but it wasn't this one, or what the hell was going on but two heads were better than one so going to Hawaii to find one of the people populating his hallucinations seemed the best thing to do.

He nearly lost his mind getting his ticket, waiting for his turn to go through security, finding his gate, and waiting to board. He wanted to be on the plane and in the air, now. Getting to Hawaii this moment seemed like the most important, most necessary thing in his world and everything that kept it from happening instantaneously was deeply frustrating. 

Finally, he was walking down the jetway toward the plane. He smiled at the stewardess at the door, stored his bag, buckled his belt, watched the safety video and when did they get rid of the actual flight attendants doing that? Then they were taxiing, and yes, they were in the air. He sighed and leaned back in his seat, hands clenching the armrests. Almost. Almost to Hawaii. Almost to Chin. Almost to Grace.

"You okay, sweetie?" the elderly lady next to him asked kindly. He supposed in his current state he did look like someone a little old lady would need to fuss over. He tried to relax a bit.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks."

"It's alright, flying isn't for everyone."

He decided that explaining that no, he wasn't actually afraid of flying he was trying to figure out if he was living in the correct reality, wasn't the right way to go. 

"Thanks, that makes me feel better," he told her and smiled. It must have come out as more of a grimace since she reached out and clasped his hand between both of hers. 

"It's okay. I'll be right here if you need anything," she said as she patted his hand gently. 

And that's how Danny found himself flying from Jersey to Hawaii with the sweet woman next to him holding his hand, comforting him.

* * *

"No one's answering," Kono said as she redialed for the fifth time. 

"Maybe the battery's dead. Or he might be at work, or asleep. What time is it in Jersey?" Chin asked, looking at the clock even though he had no idea what the time difference was.

"Whatever time it is, people tend to answer their phones when someone calls them five times, especially if it's at night," she told him as she aggressively punched buttons.

"Actually most people would probably block a number that did that," Chin told her mildly.

She scowled at him and held the phone to her ear. 

"Voicemail again."

"Stop calling him, cuz. Give it a few hours and then try again."

"Fine." She threw the phone at his head.

"That isn't going to solve anything."

"Felt good," she told him, then smiled and stuck her tongue out at him.

Chin shook his head and went to the kitchen to find something to eat. He was relieved that at least one part of their shared visions had turned out to be real. Steve and Grace didn't exist but Danny did and that was good. Maybe he was experiencing the same thing they were. If he was, then maybe their minds weren't just making things up. And if the visions were memories instead of dreams they needed to find Steve and Grace. It had already been two weeks, hopefully they were still alright.

"This isn't really our life is it?" Kono asked as Chin walked back to the couch.

"Probably not. For us to be having the same, and I mean exactly the same, visions, it's looking more and more likely that this," he gestured around the living room, "isn't reality. The question is, why do we think that it is?"

"Somebody must have put a spell on us."

"Do you really think that? Magic, seriously?"

"How else would you explain it? There's no scientific explanation for this so I'm gonna go with magic. Or somehow we've both gone identically crazy. Which, to be honest, seems a lot less likely." 

Chin was reluctant to agree to something as far-fetched as magic but then again stranger things had happened on the island, someone putting a spell on them wasn't completely outside the realm of possibility. Although, until today, he'd thought the spell actually working would have been.

"So, someone has enchanted us, we're living in the wrong reality and getting what, flashes, of the life we should have?"

"Sounds about right to me, cuz. Now we just gotta get a hold of this Danny and figure out how to reverse the spell."

"Oh, is that all? Well that shouldn't be too hard," Chin said sarcastically. Kono smacked him on the arm.

"Hey," he said, trying to move out of range, "I'm just saying, this isn't going to be an easy ride."

"If the visions are anything to go by, we're pretty damn used to things not being easy."

Chin's expression softened at the thought of how well they worked together for Five-0. 

"You're a good cop, Kono," he told her.

"Even undercover," she reminded him.

"Oh, is that what we're calling this now?"

* * *

Danny looked at his phone, five missed calls. They were all from the same number, Hawaii area code. His heart rate sped up, maybe Chin and Kono had been looking for him too. It was a comforting thought, that he might not be in this alone. He put his duffel bag in his other hand and hit 'call'. As it rang he walked outside to look for a cab.

"Danny," a female voice said excitedly, like she couldn't believe it was really him.

"Yes," he said then guessed, "Kono?" Either that or he had seriously misjudged what Chin would sound like.

"Shit, you're real. Really real," she breathed into the phone. "Since you know my name I guess you know why I'm calling."

"You've been hallucinating too I take it?" he asked, squinting in the sunlight.

"Yep. Chin and I both have. He's my cousin," she added, not sure how much he'd seen.

"Yeah, I know. You two work really well together."

"We all do," she said in a voice that left no room for doubt. 

"Then let's put our heads together and figure out what's going on here."

"The three of us will be able to crack it."

Danny eyed the line of cabs then went reluctantly to get in line behind a bunch of tourists. There were things he'd rather do besides wait in the heat for a ride but he didn't know the place well enough to rent a car. 

"Where should I meet you guys? I want to get to work as soon as possible," he told her.

"We do too," she assured him. Then she gave him Chin's address and said they'd see each other soon. 

Five minutes later he was sitting in a cab, a blissfully cool cab, giving the cabbie the address. They were off and Danny had the strange experience of recognizing the locations he'd seen in his dreams but being clueless about the places on either side of them. He was at once intimately familiar with and completely new to his surroundings. 

The drive was a short one and fifteen minutes later Danny found himself outside what he could only assume was Chin's place. He'd never hallucinated it before but the woman running out the door toward him was good confirmation. 

"Danny!" Kono shouted as she tackled him. 

He only had a second to brace himself and was proud of the fact they didn't crash to the ground. After a 10 hour flight he didn't think ending up with a grown woman laying on him would be good for his knee. And besides, he was pretty sure she was like a sister to him, so it's not like it would have been doing him much good anyway. 

"Hello to you too," he said, hugging her back. "Hi, you must be Chin," he said to the man who had followed her out of the house.

"And you're Danny. I wasn't expecting to see you so soon but I gotta say, I'm glad you're here." Chin shook his hand and clapped him on the back. "The sooner we get to work the better."

"Well then hurry up, slowpokes," Kono called from the doorway where she was waiting with Danny's bag in hand. "Why are you standing outside talking when we could be inside getting things done?"

Danny and Chin shared an fondly exasperated sign and walked to the house. 

Being here felt right to Danny. The last few weeks in Jersey had been like wearing a sweater that had shrunk in the wash, something that use to fit perfectly but didn't anymore. This, Hawaii, Chin and Kono, they fit right, he could tell. 

"So what do you know?" Kono got right down to business as they all settled themselves in the living room. She'd had the foresight to grab three legal pads and put one down in front of each of them so they could keep track of everything they knew. 

"We're a unit called Five-0 that seems to operate within it's own guidelines, separate from the HPD. Steve is our leader but I don't know his last name or if he exists. I've got a little girl named Grace who feels real but I've never heard of before. I live in Hawaii but I don't know why. And I'm not too sure how I feel about Kamekona and his t-shirts," Danny started them off.

That got a laugh out of Chin.

"I saw that too," he told Danny, grinning as he did so. He turned serious, "I think Steve is the son of John McGarrett. He was my mentor, but he was-"

"Killed in his house," Danny interrupted. 

Chin raised a quizzical eyebrow, "You saw the murder?"

Danny shook his head, "No, I kept seeing his beach house so I googled pictures of beach homes until I found it. The article it went along with was a news story about the homicide. Sorry for you loss," he added.

"Thanks. He was a good guy. So Steve belongs to John, and Grace belongs to you. I've looked Steve up but for right now he isn't real."

"He might be later of course," Danny said sarcastically. He was confused. The world had stopped making sense and he would like to give the world a good talking to so it could see the error of its ways and correct itself. 

"He might be. We need to figure out who would have done this to us. Instead of just killing us they've made it so that Five-0 doesn't exist. We need to check out whoever would benefit from that."

"It would have been whoever we were about to bust," Kono said. "What's the last thing any of us remember from that life?"

"All mine seemed to be out of order, so I'm not sure which case was the latest," Danny said. "I remember chasing after some guy named Iago Upton, and who the hell names their kid Iago? No wonder he went sour with a name like that."

"I saw him too," Kono said.

"So did I," Chin added. 

They went through the rest of their visions, taking notes on their pads, and figured out that Iago was the only point of commonality they all shared. 

"Let's look him up and pay him a visit," Kono said, excited they now had a lead. 

"Why are you looking at me when you say that?" Chin asked.

"Because you're the one who knows how to hack into the HPD database to get this guy's address," Kono told him. She tilted her head as though daring him to disagree. 

"Fine, I'll see what we can find on him."

Five minutes later Chin looked up from his laptop. 

"Guess what," he told them.

"He doesn't exist either?" Kono guessed. Danny groaned. 

"Actually, he totally does," Chin cracked a smile.

"Not funny, man," Danny told him. Chin just laughed. 

"So we can figure out where he lives but we don't know the first thing about magic. Shouldn't we do some research before bursting in on him?" Kono asked.

"Yeah, we should probably get a better idea of what's going on here before we find Iago," Chin agreed.

"We need to find someone on the island who knows about magic. They might be able to tell us how to reverse it," Kono said. "That way we'll know what needs to be done once we find him." She couldn't think of anyone off the top of her head but she was certain one of the cousins would be able to find them someone.

"Woah, woah, magic?" Danny asked, thrown for a loop. "When did magic enter the equation?" He was a cop from Jersey and he liked to think he had his feet firmly planted on the ground. Magic didn't exist in his world.

"Kono and I were discussing what could be causing these memories or whatever they are and we thought magic might be the culprit," Chin told him calmly. It was no surprise that anyone would have trouble swallowing the idea but they didn't have any other explanation. 

"Magic seemed the most likely," Kono added, "since there's no medical explanation for three people experiencing the same hallucinations. Especially three people who till this point hadn't met and lived at opposite ends of the country.

"Yeah, but magic?" Danny still wasn't convinced. Granted, he didn't have a better explanation. 

"Do you have any other working theories?" Kono asked, looking at Danny. 

"No," Danny answered.

"Then yes. Magic," Kono told him.

Danny decided that he'd come too far to say something was too far-fetched for him. He could have stayed home and visited a shrink and ignored what the visions had been telling him, but here he was in Hawaii chasing down two people who for all intents and purposes weren't real. He might as well add magic to the list of things he could wrap his mind around.

Now that was settled Kono and Chin started calling their family to find someone to talk to about spells. Danny opened his laptop and started researching magic while they called. He was too wound up to sit around and do nothing while the other two worked.

"Okay, I've got someone," Kono said an hour later. It would have been sooner but getting their family off the phone was about as easy as solving a problem like Maria.

"Great, let's go pay them a visit," Danny said as he stood up and stretched. He hadn't found any useful information, although when it came to magic he had no idea how to figure out what information was good and what was gibberish; it all seemed like nonsense. 

"I'm driving," Kono said. She beat Chin to the keys and walked to the car with the two men following. 

"Who are we visiting?" Chin asked as they climbed into the car. 

"One of the cousins has a friend, Tony, who knows all about this kind of thing. Either he can help us reverse it or he knows who can."

"How big _is_ your family?" Danny had to ask. Between the two of them they had to have called at least thirty people and those were all just cousins. His family in Jersey didn't have anything on them. 

"Bigger than you want know about, but it comes in handy for stuff like this. Although," Kono paused, "this is probably going to lead to a lot of awkward questions."

"If this works they won't remember you asking," Danny pointed out.

"Good," Kono said. 

"Do you think we'll remember all this once we get back to where we're supposed to be?" Chin asked.

"As long as we get Steve and Grace and our lives back, I frankly don't care if we remember this mess or not," Danny said adamantly. All he wanted was his family. This whole fiasco could go jump in a lake for all he cared. 

"Fair enough," Kono said. "But it would be nice to know that magic exists once we get back. Might come in handy for solving cases."

"Write it on your hand," Chin suggested. "Either we'll remember all this anyway, which I think we will, or you can have fun deciding how drunk you must have been to write crap about magic on your hand."

He made a good point. If they didn't remember any of this, anything she wrote about magic being real or alternate realities would seem like nonsense. But since they would be the ones using the magic they would most likely remember everything.

They spent the rest of the drive discussing where Steve and Grace were now. Chin thought they were most likely in another alternate universe where Danny, Kono, and he didn't exist. Danny liked that idea because it meant they were safe. At least wherever Grace was Steve was too and that meant she was taken care of.

* * *

"So, you'll need the blood of an ox mixed with wisteria all boiled under the light of the moon at midnight," Tony told them. The four of them were standing in his basement, why was it always a basement, listening to him explain what they needed to do to get Steve and Grace back.

"Seriously?" Danny burst out. This was all way too mumbo-jumbo for him. He was trying his best to go along with the whole magic thing, but ox blood and midnight rituals were too much.

Tony burst out laughing. "No, not really. I just wanted to see if you'd do it."

Chin gave him a withering look and Tony stopped laughing. He coughed to cover up the laughter, "Well, obviously this is no laughing matter. I'll try to help as much as I can."

"Hell yeah you will," Danny said shaking his finger at Tony. "This is my daughter and our leader we're talking about, so any cute jokes or tricks you're considering, re-consider. Is that clear?"

Tony looked a bit stunned. He nodded his head like child confronted with an overly stern principal.

"Honestly," Tony told them, "I can't help you. Without knowing the exact incantation used to cause this, I can't undo it."

"So we're gonna have to find Iago?" Danny asked.

"Who?" Tony asked.

"The guy we think did all this," Kono told him.

"Yep, track him down and you'll be able to figure out what he did. Then you can find the right words to reverse it," Tony told them.

"Do you have any way of tracking him down?" Danny asked, it might be quicker than them trying to find him on their own.

"No magic or anything," Tony said, "But I can give you the names of a few bookstores that carry spell books. Maybe one of the salespeople might remember him." Tony was trying to help but that was the best he could do. He wrote out the names and addresses of the three stores he knew.

"Great, thanks, man," Danny said as he took the proffered paper. It hadn't gone as well as he'd been hoping for but they had a lead and that was more than they'd had when they walked in. 

"Let's check out all three now and see who remembers Iago," Danny told the other two who nodded and followed him out.

"Bye, Tony," Chin and Kono called as they walked out.

"Bye, guys, good luck," Tony called after them.

* * *

They drove to the three bookstores Tony had told them about. The first two had no one matching Iago's description but at the last one they hit gold. The man working behind the counter remembered selling a book of spells to a guy that sounded like Iago a few weeks back. 

"How did he pay?" Chin asked.

"Credit card," the man told them. 

"Do you have a copy of the receipt?" Kono asked. It they could get the card number they could track this guy down.

It turned out he had kept a pretty good record and found the receipt they needed without much trouble. Danny could have cried with relief. They were one step closer to Grace. 

The three of them walked back to the car so Chin could use the info they'd gotten to track Iago down. He was on his laptop in the car and found what they needed in ten minutes. Danny was impressed. He was throughly glad Chin was someone he worked with on a regular basis. He was a good guy who was more than capable of holding his own. 

"Where to?" Kono asked from the driver's seat. Chin gave her the address and Danny took a moment to wonder why he never seemed to drive himself anywhere in Hawaii. 

In the backseat Danny wiped his hand nervously on his pant leg. As much as he wanted to find Iago he was apprehensive. If Iago didn't have the answer to getting Grace and Steve back there weren't many other options available to them. And once they reached him they would know for sure one way or the other. Now he still had hope that Iago would be able to fix it. He was worried that they might find him and realize he didn't know how and then they would be stuck. 

He pushed that thought away as they pulled up to a dingy apartment. This was it. In one of those units sat the man who could bring Grace and Steve back. He took a deep breath, time to get this show on the road.

* * *

The three of them filed up the stairs and found Iago's door. Danny took a deep breath and knocked. He moved his hand to cover his gun, ready to pull it out as soon as he saw Iago. If the little deviant thought he'd be able to make a break for it he was sorely mistaken. 

The door opened and all three of them drew their weapons. 

"What do you - oh shit," Iago squawked as he realized he'd just opened the door to three Five-0 agents each pointing a gun at him. 

"Hi, Iago," Danny said walking forward as Iago backed up to get away from him. "I think you know why we're here."

"Um, ah.." Iago stuttered as he backed into the coffee table. Now the four of them were all in his tiny living room, Danny, Kono, and Chin ringing him in. 

"Where's my daughter and Steve?" Danny asked. He felt proud that he hadn't started clobbering Iago the moment he'd opened the door. 

"I don't know what you're talking about-" Iago started but Danny cut him off.

"Don't give me that. You did something to them and you're going to tell us what. Or we're going to start treating you like a pinata at baseball party and then you're gonna tell us. Which will it be?"

"Well, when you put it like that," Iago laughed weakly and then winced at Danny's glare. "I may have tried some small, tiny, insignificant really, magic and Steve sort of went away?"

"Are you asking or telling?" Danny asked, his limited patience thinning.

"Uh...telling? I don't know where he went just that he wouldn't be here any more. You weren't supposed to remember him," he proffered as though that would make everything okay. "And it was just so I could do a bank job, I wasn't trying to hurt you."

Indignation filled Danny, inflating him like a balloon. He couldn't believe it. This pathetic mess had wiped his daughter and Steve from existence so he could steal money? Of all the selfish things he had heard this had to be the worst.

Chin took over speaking while Danny got himself under control. 

"How long is the spell supposed to last?" he asked. There was a chance this wasn't permanent. The hallucinations and returned memories might even be evidence that the magic would wear off all on its own.

"Um? I have no idea," Iago told him.

"What about Grace? Why did you have to get rid of her too?" Danny yelled. He couldn't see any reason for Iago to mess with Grace's existence. She wouldn't have made any difference in a bank robbery going smoothly.

"I don't know a Grace," Iago said, hands up in supplication. "The spell was just supposed to make you all forget the big guy. Which obviously didn't work," he mumbled the last bit to himself. Kono smacked him.

Danny lost his temper.

"Did you seriously think you could make me forget my family! My daughter!" Danny thundered at the man now crouching before him. "You tried to take my family away because you wanted to rob a bank!" Danny's fury was frightening to behold. It seemed to expand from him, filling the room, billowing into the sky, consuming everything in its path. It was a power unto itself and it would not be denied. It wanted Steve and Grace and it was going to get them.

"I was g-g-going to give them back to you," the pathetic figure tried to placate Danny.

"If you think for a moment I believe you then you are a bigger idiot that I thought. And considering you thought kidnapping the leader of Five-0, a team who always comes out on top, and my daughter was a good idea I had already ranked you as idiot number one!" Danny shouted. 

"I didn't kidnap them," Iago stupidly corrected. 

"Why you little-" Danny shouted as he took a step closer to Iago.

Chin decided it was time to intervene. 

"Reverse it," he told the man as he put a calming hand on Danny's arm. His soothing voice reached out like a beacon of hope and Iago grabbed ahold of it.

"I don't know how. I'm not even sure how I got it to work in the first place."

"You don't even know-" Danny exploded but Chin interrupted.

He kept himself as calm as possible. "How did you do it in the first place? Did you just read the spell out of the book or did you have to do something extra?"

The man wiped his tears and tried to keep his voice steady as he replied. "I found this old book in a secondhand shop. It had some spells that looked cool so I stole it and brought it home. I saw one that could make people vanish and I thought it would be great if the leader of Five-0 vanished because then Five-0 wouldn't exist so you all wouldn't come after me."

"That's not exactly how it happened," Kono interjected.

"I know. Like I said, I have no idea how I actually got it to work. I just read the words off the page, nothing special. It was just supposed to be a joke. I didn't know magic was real."

"It was news to us too," Danny told him. "Where's the book?" he asked.

"If you give it to us we can try and find a counter spell," Kono said. "Your cooperation from here on out will factor into your sentencing later."

The guy knew he was out of options. He had three exceptionally angry, and well-armed, Five-0 agents leveling guns at him; cooperation wasn't _an_ option, it was the only option. 

"It's here. It's in my bedroom, on the dresser. It's got a red leather cover."

"I'll grab it," Kono said and walked toward the bedroom. She returned a minute later, book in hand. Her face was grim as she showed the guy the book.

"Which page?" she growled at him, clearly trying to restrain herself from shouting and beating him round the head with the heavy tome.

"The one with the marker," he told her.

She opened to that page and showed it to him. He nodded that it was the correct one. 

"So you just said these words here," she pointed, "and they worked? Just like that? Did you have to do anything else?" 

"Just that. I just repeated it a few times, then I passed out and when I woke up the world was like this. I didn't even know it had worked until I looked up what Five-0 was doing, trying to keep taps on you guys you know, and there wasn't any such team. That's when I figured out it had worked."

"Is there a counter spell or what?" Danny asked impatiently. He wanted to get Steve and Grace back five minutes ago. They were so close and he wanted to finish this now.

"There doesn't seem to be," Kono said.

"You have got to be kidding me?" Danny shouted, unable to stop himself. "We come here, find this scumbag, find his little spell book and it turns out it can't even help us! There has to be a spell somewhere that can fix this. Is there anything in there about bringing people back?" 

Kono was flicking through the pages as quickly as she could but from the look on her face she wasn't finding anything that could help them.

"Maybe there's another book that goes with this one," Chin suggested. "If we find that one it might have what we need to reverse what's been done."

"At what, the magic bookstore?" Danny asked.

"Well, he did buy this one up at that secondhand shop we got his info from. The owner there may have more like it or will at least know where it came from. We should have asked while we were there earlier," Kono said.

"Alright. Let's tie this guy up and go find our book, "Danny said. He put his gun away and caught the cuffs Kono tossed at him. He secured their perp and hauled him to his feet.

Chin and Kono kept their guns trained on Iago as Danny frog-marched him out to the car. They couldn't take him to the police station for two reasons: one, they needed him to help identify the right book and spell to bring their people back, and two hauling him down to HPD and turning him in for magicking away a Navy SEAL and little girl who for the time being didn't exist would do them more harm then good. 

The four of them climbed into the car.

"Once we get the book and spell we'retro back to my place and try it. If what Iago told us is accurate we'll wake up tomorrow morning in the right life with Steve and Grace," Chin said. Of the three he was the most levelheaded by far. Kono wanted to beat the stuffing out of Iago for what he'd done to her boss and Danny was ready to rip apart the world if necessary and drag Grace and Steve back by sheer force of will if he had to.

"Everything I said is true," Iago said indignantly. Danny cuffed him.

"Shut up. When we want your input we'll ask for it."

Kono snickered and Chin hid a smile. None of them were feeling charitable toward their prisoner. 

"We should be there in about five minutes," Chin told them. "Do you know the name of the book that goes with this one?" he asked Iago.

"No," Iago flinched just in case his answered displeased Danny. He wasn't keen to keep getting hit by the angry detective. "I just picked this one up on a whim. I don't know anything about this stuff."

"Well for your sake I hope you have that same dumb luck again. The book we need had better be there," Danny told him.

Iago just hung his head and waited for them to reach the store. Either they would have the book or he would get the stuffing beat out of him by Danny. He hoped the book they wanted was there. 

"It'll probably look like this one, big and covered in leather," Kono said, trying to comfort Danny. "It should be easy to find."

Chin pulled the car into a spot in front of the same small shabby looking secondhand shop they'd visited earlier. 

"We're here," Chin told them, turning the car off. "Someone's got to stay here with Iago. We can't go dragging a cuffed civilian through the store." 

Danny was elected to wait in the car with him. Partly because Chin and Kono would be a lot less likely to lose it on the store's proprietor if the book wasn't there, and partly because Iago seemed most frightened of Danny. Something the detective clearly took a lot of pleasure in.

"It's just me and you now, buddy," Danny said to his prisoner. He could see the other two through the window. They were showing the man inside the book they had brought. Come on, Danny thought, have the one we need; I need to see my little girl and Steve. I need to. 

"Hey don't hurt me, man," Iago said, trying to lift his hands up placatingly. Since they were cuffed behind his back the attempt was unsuccessful.

"Don't hurt you? Don't hurt you? Have you lost your mind?" Danny asked him. "You erased the _existence_ of the two people I love most in this world, and you're asking me not to hurt you?" Danny gestured incredulously between himself and Iago. "You don't think you've earned a beating by this point? Seriously? I am being generous with you right now and you should thank your lucky stars for it. If the situation was reversed Steve would have torn you apart by now. You're lucky to be stuck with me." He huffed self-righteously and leaned back in his seat to watch the proceedings inside the shop. 

Kono was smiling so things seemed to be going well. Hope rose in Danny's chest. They had the book. They were going to get Steve and Grace back. He barely managed to stop himself from ditching Iago in the car and tearing into the store to rip the book out of the proprietor's hands. 

Chin and Kono walked out to the car and Danny could see the large blue book tucked under Kono's arm. He banged his fist down on the car door in triumph. They had the book. Everything was going to be okay. 

"We got it," Chin said as soon as he opened his door.

"Fantastic. Let's get back to your place and bring our people home."

During the drive Kono called her cousin to figure out which spell they would need. She'd tried asking their prisoner but he had been completely clueless. 

They reached Chin's place and dragged Iago back inside.

"So which spell is it?" Danny asked as soon as they were in. His fingers itched to hold hold Grace again and he wasn't sure how he was keeping himself from ripping the book from Kono's grasp and reading the words himself.

Kono flipped a few pages until she found the right one. 

"This one seems the best bet. Tony was pretty sure it would work," she answered.

"So what? We just read it and poof they come back?" Danny asked.

"Basically. But we'll wake up tomorrow in the right reality. They won't just pop up in the living room or anything," Kono told him. She knew he wanted Grace back as soon as possible but they would have to wait just a little bit longer.

"Alright, start reading." Danny told Kono. 

"What will happen to Iago once the change happens? He still needs to be booked," Chin pointed out. 

"Good point," Danny agreed. "There's no way this ass's going free after what he's done. We need to make sure he's somewhere we can get to him later."

"We could cuff him to one of us so when we wake up tomorrow he's with us," Kono suggested. 

"The cuffs might disappear overnight. We don't know much about how this magic will work," Chin countered. 

"Then what?" Kono asked. 

"You could just let me go," Iago said from the couch. 

"Shut up," all three yelled at him. 

"How about we try the cuffing thing," Danny said. "It might work and if it doesn't the four of us against this moron means he doesn't stand a chance of getting away. Even if he's not with us in the morning, we'll be able to track him down no problem."

There was no way any member of Five-0 was going to rest until Iago was behind bars. And there wasn't anywhere they wouldn't be able to find him. From the look on his face, he knew that. 

Chin cuffed himself to Iago, it was worth a shot at least, Kono started reading the words, and Danny put his gun away. If they all passed out he didn't want it falling and risk it going off. 

Kono finished reading the spell and looked up. They were all still awake and standing in Chin's living room. 

"Has anything changed?" Danny asked. He pulled out his phone and looked up Five-0. Nothing came up. "Nope," he answered his own question, "they're not back yet."

Kono read the words again, and again. She read through them ten times before they had to admit it wasn't working. 

"What did you do!" Danny shouted at Iago. He had been getting more tense with each re-read. Chin had to pull him off the cowering man. Danny had been shaking him violently, unable to hold his frustration and fear back any longer. "You did this!" he shouted as Chin dragged him backwards. "Fix it!"

"Danny, man, calm down. We're going to figure this out. It's gonna be okay," Chin told him as Danny fought to be released. 

"Yeah, danny, we're going to get them back. We just need to see what Iago did differently when he read the other spell then we can get this right," Kono told Danny. 

She was rubbing his shoulders and standing in front of him to block his view of Iago. Both were helping him to calm down. 

"Fine," Danny huffed, "Fine. For your sake," Danny shook a finger at Iago, "this had better work."

Kono turned to Chin.

"We need to figure out what he did exactly and then recreate it," Kono said and Chin nodded. Kono turned to face Iago.

"What time was it when you read the spell?" she asked. 

"About, um, dinner time, I think. So around six," he told her shakily.

"And you were in your apartment?" she questioned.

"Yeah, yeah. I was in my living room."

Kono looked at Chin.

"Maybe we need to go back to his place and try doing it there," Kono suggested. 

"We still have a couple of hours till six, plenty of time to get back there," Chin agreed, finally letting Danny go.

"Alright," Danny said, "Alright. We'll go back to his place, wait till the right time, read the words and then all this," he waved his hand, "is going to go back to being the way it should." He seemed calmer but Kono was the one to walk Iago to the car just in case. 

The drive to Iago's apartment seemed to drag on and on. Danny looked at his watch every few moments as though that would make time go by faster. It didn't.

Finally, finally, they pulled up to the complex and got out of the car, Kono keeping a hand firmly on Iago's shoulder. Chin opened the apartment door, none of them had bothered to lock up when they'd left. 

"Okay, we still have more than an hour," Chin said once they'd all settled on the living room couch. "Let's try reading the spell once more and if it doesn't work we'll wait till six and try again." He looked to the others to see if they agreed. They did.

Kono pulled the book out and read the words once more. The three of them looked around but nothing seemed changed. Danny pulled out his phone and verified nothing had happened.

"So six o'clock it is. We'll just have to wait," Kono said.

"Should we have him read it?" Danny asked, "Since he's the one who did it the first time maybe he needs to be the one to undo it."

"Good point," Kono agreed. "Might as well let him try first." Chin nodded his agreement.

"Alright, that's settled," Danny said, reaching for the remote control. "Let's at least see if there's a game on. I don't want to just sit around doing nothing for the next hour." He turned the television on and tried to find the sports station. He finally landed on one he liked.

"This okay?" he asked the other two.

"Fine by me," Kono said.

"Me too," Chin said.

Iago, Kono and Danny watched from the couch while Chin sat on a chair he'd brought from the kitchen. No point in being bored for an hour.

* * *

"It's six," Danny said. He'd been keeping tabs on the time throughout the game. 

"Let's do this," Chin said, getting up and stretching. 

Kono hauled Iago to his feet.

"Where, precisely, were you standing?" she asked him. He pointed toward the television.

"I was standing in front of the television. I had the book sitting on top of it," Iago told her.

They walked over together and he stood the way he had the first time. 

"Alright. Just read these words the same way you read the first ones," Kono told him sternly. "Got that?"

He nodded and gulped. He wondered what would happen to him if this didn't work. It wasn't like he had many escape options, he was cuffed and surrounded. 

"This is gonna work," Kono said confidently to Danny and Chin. Danny more than any of them needed the reassurance now. He was sweating and staring Iago down as though daring him to try to wiggle out of doing this. Chin clapped a hand on Danny's shoulder to let him know he was there for him. 

Kono flipped to the right page and held the open book in front of Iago. His hands were still cuffed so she had to hold the book as he read. 

Danny's entire body was rigid as he held himself as stiff as possible. This had to work. It had to. The more time passed the more clearly he could remember the life he was meant to be living and it only made him more desperate to return to it. He could practically feel Grace holding one of his hands and Steve holding the other. They were so close to being by his side. He just had to hold on for a little longer and he would be with them. Danny let out a deep breath. Almost there.

Iago began reading.

* * *

Danny rolled onto his side and snuggled deeper into the warm arms wrapped around him. Large arms, muscular arms, a man's arms. Steve. Danny's eyes flew open and his hands reached out of their own accord to touch the man currently sleeping beside him. This wasn't like those mornings on Rachel's couch when he would wake convinced he was with Steve only to clutch at empty air. Steve was solid and here. It was wonderful.

"Steve," he breathed, "you're back." He pushed Steve onto his back and kissed him, so relieved to see him. Now that he was awake every memory he'd been missing poured into his mind, easily fitting into place. All the blanks that hadn't been completely filled in were now overflowing. There was no doubt that this was the life Danny was meant to have. 

Steve woke up abruptly. 

"Danny! You found us," Steve said, joy coloring his voice. He was suddenly wide awake and he kissed Danny back enthusiastically until they suddenly broke apart, remembering the other person who needed to be in this reality with them.

"Grace!" they shouted together throwing off the blanket and jumping out of bed. Before they reached the doorway they could hear her calling them.

"Danno! Steve! Where are you?"

Both men ran into the hall and Danny scooped his daughter into his arms. At last he could hold her. At last she was right where she was supposed to be, with him. Tears came to his eyes as he held her. 

"Right here, monkey. We're right here. I've missed you so much," he told her. He carried her to Steve and the three of them embraced. 

"I was so worried about you," Danny told her. He kissed the top of her head. "Are you okay? Does anything hurt?" No matter what, she and Steve were both going to the doctor for through check-ups to make sure everything was fine. He was taking no chances. 

"I'm fine, Danno," she assured him. "Getting a bit squished."

"Sorry, baby," Danny said before letting up on his grip a little but not letting go entirely. If he had his way he would never let her out of his sight again. "I'm just so happy to see you again." He turned and kissed Steve briefly, "Both of you."

They would have time later to talk about it, to talk about where Steve and Grace had been, how Danny and the others had found them, what it had been like to not remember them. But for now, Danny was with his family for the first time in far too long and all he wanted was to hold them and revel in their presence. And that's exactly what he did. The three of them, sitting in the hallway, holding on to one another. For now that was more than enough.


End file.
